Sunday, December 30, 2007

Marina Chahué

Jan and Joan from Casteele knocked on our hull early yesterday morning. We’re glad they’ve caught up with us, and after some wavering about whether to continue immediately or stay and await the next Tehuantepec window, they’ve decided to stay. They’re tied up right next to us. The four of us are planning a trip to Oaxaca for a few days later this week. Mark from Con Te Partiro said he’s happy to dog sit Märzen while we’re gone.

Mark is also from Seattle (that’s where Casteele is from), and continuing the small world theme, he bought his boat from the same yacht broker we did, Pete McGonagle at Swiftsure Yachts. Our other neighbors here are David and his parents, Norm and Janet, on Shimmer from St. John, USVI, and Roger and Lorraine on Black Dog II from Seattle (Everett).

Shimmer came through the Panama Canal from the East Coast, and we happily sold David our Mexican cruising guide and bought his Costa Rica courtesy flag. It was an international currency exchange as well. We got US dollars from David since that’s what we need in El Salvador, and we’re paying him in pesos.

Enrique, the harbor master here, helped with Jan’s and Joan’s decision to stay by not showing up at the marina yesterday afternoon. To leave Mexico, you need an international zarpe, a document that clears you out of Mexico. Jan and Joan learned yesterday at the port captain’s office that there are two places to get a zarpe stamped: at the airport outside of town and here at Marina Chahué by Enrique. John and I did meet Enrique yesterday and he’s a great guy, but he’s elusive. He doesn’t keep regular office hours during the week, and now it’s Sunday and both Monday and Tuesday are holidays.

I’ve included links to Casteele’s and Swiftsure Yachts’ websites on our links page.